


B Squad: B is for Badass

by stjarna



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: A Squad characters (i.e. AoS main characters) only secondary characters here, Alternate Universe - Different Framework Universe (Marvel), Angst with a Happy Ending, AoSficnet 2.0 fic exchange, B Squad, Bisexuality, F/F, F/M, Framework, Gen, Homosexuality, IT Crowd crossover (ish), Main ship: Piper/Daisy, Some angst, but mainly skipping over the angst, except for Daisy, mention of nudity, some swearing (who would complain about that :) )
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-27
Updated: 2017-07-27
Packaged: 2018-12-07 05:21:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11616744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stjarna/pseuds/stjarna
Summary: Based on the AoSficnet 2.0 fic exchange prompt: Put a character (like Piper or Cal Johnson or Andrew) in the Framework.Summary: When the entire A Squad is kidnapped by AIDA and Radcliffe, the B Squad goes into the Framework to save the day (with a little help from an agent from the I.T. division). Canon-AU which begins towards the end of 4x14.





	B Squad: B is for Badass

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Mandergee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mandergee/gifts).



> Written for @a-little-squirrely-sunshine (on Tumblr) aka @Mandergee (on Ao3)
> 
> Big thank you to @AgentsofSuperwholocked, @dilkirani, and @agentcalliope for giving this a read and making some beta suggestions.
> 
> Banner by me.
> 
> It's not necessary to know [The IT Crowd and Roy Trenneman](https://youtu.be/wXEsldiW9Xg) to read this fic (but those that do will hopefully appreciate his appearance :) )

Davis sits at the table, resting his forearms on the smooth, wooden surface, glancing back and forth between Piper, who is sitting next to him taking a sip from her water bottle, and Prince, who is leaning with his butt against the kitchen counter, his arms crossed in front of his chest.

“I don’t know, guys. Something just seemed weird,” Davis says quietly, shaking his head ever so slightly. “I mean, Simmons was dead-set on finding AIDA and we searched the whole facility and lemme tell ya that place was creepy and then we meet up again at the dock, watching the sub sail off and she was almost like ‘Oh, well, guess AIDA got away.’ And then the others show up and I suggest we should do one more sweep of the area to see if we can find May, and Coulson straight out says we should leave and nobody objects.” Davis shakes his head again. “Something seemed weird.”

“Well, Mace was in pretty bad shape. Maybe Coulson wanted to get him back ASAP?” Prince suggests, but his tone is less than convincing.

Piper can’t help but nervously play with the label on her water bottle, staring absentmindedly at the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo which she’d managed to peel half-away. “Yeah, Coulson did seem off. And Johnson too. I mean, finding May had been top priority and now they’ve just dropped it like a hot potato? And they have some farfetched clue that the Russian is after the Inhumans and they’re bringing them _all_ here? I mean. I don’t know. To me that doesn’t make sense. It’s too risky, bringing them all to one location.”

The sound of someone shyly clearing their throat causes the three agents to turn around to look at the entrance. The guy looks about twenty-five, his curly hair slightly greasy and unkempt, his “Eat-Sleep-Code-Repeat” shirt decorated with a large coffee stain. He’s clutching a tablet in his hands, staring nervously at the three agents in the room, one corner of his mouth pulled up microscopically into a sheepish smile.

“Yes?” Piper asks slowly, staring at the unexpected and seemingly frightened visitor.

The guy clears his throat again, nervously taking a step into the common area. “Umm. I was just… I. You… you’re Agent Piper, right?” he remarks in a thick Irish accent.

“Uh-huh.” Piper confirms, eyeballing him skeptically.

“And you’re… you’re Level Red, right?” He takes another step forward, gesturing at Piper. “You… You’re Agent May’s second hand, right?”

Piper can’t stop from grinning proudly. She briefly glances at Prince, who squints his eyes in annoyance. “Suppose you could call me that. And you are?”

“Me?” His hand flies to his chest. “I… I’m Agent Trenneman. Roy Trenneman. I.T. Division.”

“What do you want?” Prince asks, noticeably impatient and grumpy.

“Umm,” Trenneman stammers, his eyes darting nervously side to side. “I… I tried bringing this up with Agents Fitz and Simmons, but… but they seem pretty busy with getting the base ready for the Inhumans. They… they told me to leave before I could even say anything and… and Agent Simmons has… well, she can be very authoritative and—”

“You scare easily, don’t you?”

Trenneman clears his throat nervously. “Yeah. I… I suppose, but… well, I still feel like something’s not quite right, and since none of the highest-ranking agents seem to be available, I thought I’d—”

“Oh good, we’re the consolation prize,” Davis mumbles, shifting once again to face forward, turning his back on Trenneman.

“Could you get to the point?” Piper asks, trying to keep her tone polite, but apparently barking louder than expected, causing Trenneman to flinch.

“Jeez, you’re a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, Trenneman.” Piper looks at Davis and Prince. “Why do I feel like I’m talking to a scared puppy?”

“Why are you still talking to him at all?” Davis mutters under his breath, earning him a quiet snort from Prince.

“Ugh.” Piper rolls her eyes, focussing back on Trenneman. “Okay, look, man, if this is really important, then spit it out already!”

Trenneman bops his head. “Yes. So. One of the engineers asked me to run diagnostics on those LMD scanners that Agent Fitz had installed everywhere and… and I noticed that one of them had picked up LMD readings earlier today but apparently no log entry was created for the event, and I’ve double-checked the equipment and the program and it’s all working and—”

“Wait, are you saying there might be an LMD walking on this base?” Piper asks wide-eyed, exchanging worried looks with Davis and Prince.

“Multiple, actually,” Trenneman admits, quietly.

“How many?”

“Six.”

“ _Six?_ ” Prince exclaims in disbelief.

“Do you have a timestamp or anything for the event? Which scanner was it?” Davis asks, urgently getting up from his chair.

Seemingly intimidated by Davis’ size and stature, Trenneman takes half a step back. “The… the scanner by the hangar doors. Few hours ago.”

“When you returned from the Krasnoyarsk Krai mission,” Piper concludes, staring at Davis, who looks back at her wide-eyed.

“Where’s the nearest scanner?” Davis asks Trenneman, who gestures to the door right behind him.

Davis rushes to the entrance, taking one step out of the room and back again. The warning light next to the scanner remains dark. “Alright. It’s not me.”

“It’s them,” Piper mutters. “All six of them. Plus May. They got all the highest ranking agents in the agency.”

“And they’re bringing every Inhuman under S.H.I.E.L.D. protection here to the base,” Davis adds.

The four people in the room look at each other in silent shock as the disturbing reality and its possible ramifications slowly sink in.

* * *

Piper hadn’t quite believed it when Trenneman had actually returned with the miniature EMPs they’d instructed him to steal from the lab. He’d shaken like a leaf, almost missing the chair when he sat down, his chest heaving with short anxious breaths. He’d left it up to Davis, Prince, and Piper to take out the six new androids and ensure that May’s LMD hadn’t been turned back on. For once, luck had been on their side. That was until Trenneman figured out that the LMDs had been programmed so that all their memories would automatically be deleted should their cover be compromised and they realized they still had no clue as to where Coulson, Mace, May, Mack, Daisy, Fitz, and Simmons were being held.

They’d agreed that Davis, Prince, and Piper would log into the Framework to try and find their superiors’ avatars, and with them hopefully a way to figure out where their bodies were being held from the inside. In the meantime, Trenneman was to try and find a solution from the outside, locate the source of the code, crack the code, find a way to wake everyone up remotely, anything he could think of. He didn’t exactly look like he was up for the task, but he was the best bet they had and eventually Piper had managed to scare a bit of self-confidence into him.

They’d put together a small team to serve on Zephyr One, ready to take off at a moment’s notice once they’d figured out where S.H.I.E.L.D.’s highest ranking agents were being held hostage and come to their rescue.

Then the three of them had laid down on their med beds, placing the strange looking contraptions on their heads. Up to that point, they’d only used them a handful of times for training purposes.

* * *

* * *

Piper feels a bit disoriented when she opens her eyes, staring at a fan hanging from a bright white ceiling, the sun shining through the curtains of an apartment window. She shifts her head, noticing the pillow she’s resting on. Her hands reach around, feeling the soft comforter she’s covered with. She picks up the blanket, lifting it slightly.

“Huh,” Piper mumbles quietly when she realizes that she’s naked. She perks up when she hears water from a shower and a female voice singing indistinctly in the bathroom.

Piper turns her head, noticing the black leather badge on the nightstand. She grabs it, drops her head back on the pillow and holds the badge in front of her face, before flipping it open. She gasps in shock when she reads “HYDRA HOMELAND STRATEGIC DEFENSE” above a photo of herself. Her thumb glides over the embossed stylized skull with its six tentacles on the right side of the leather booklet, unable to believe how real it feels.

Piper oofs, the air being forced out of her lungs, when the woman lands on top of her, grabbing her wrists and pushing her arms to the side. Before Piper even knows what’s going on, she feels soft warm lips pressing against hers as a mane of black, wavy hair drapes around her face like a curtain.

The woman jumps off just as quickly as she’d appeared, turning her back on Piper and bending down to pick something off the ground. She stands back up, throwing a tank top at Piper as she spins back around to face the bed, grinning widely. “Work texted. We’re needed. Better get ready.”

Piper can’t stop her jaw from dropping when she realizes that the woman who’s standing in front of her in nothing but a white bathrobe, the woman who’d just kissed her, the woman she’d seemingly— _Oh boy!_

“You alright, babe?” Daisy asks, tilting her head slightly to one side.

“Umm. Umm.” Piper tries to force her brain to somehow catch up with the situation. “Yes, Daisy. All good. Just sleepy.”

“Daisy?” Daisy scrunches her nose in slight confusion. “Trying out a new nickname? Bit too cutesy, don’t you think?”

“Umm. Yes. You’re right. S-Skye,” Piper guesses, noticing her panicked heart relax slightly when a smile flashes across Daisy’s face.

Daisy takes a step forward, lifting one knee to rest it on the mattress and leaning forward, curling her hand around Piper’s neck, pulling her closer for another kiss.

 _Oh boy. Oh boy. Oh boy. Oh boy,_ are the only words running through Piper’s mind in an endless loop as she feels Daisy’s tongue brushing against her lower lip before her teeth gently nip on it.

Daisy straightens up, resting her hands on her hips. “Alright, babe. Seriously. Get ready. Ward’s gonna be here to pick us up in less than ten.”

“Ward?” Piper asks wide-eyed, sitting up straight in bed, scrambling to pull up the blanket over her exposed breasts.

Daisy laughs out loud. “Dude, come on. Relax. You can’t possibly still be worried about him. It’s been three years since he and I broke up and a year since we’ve started dating. He’s fine with it.”

Piper furrows her brows, trying to mask her confusion by pulling the tank top Daisy had thrown at her over her head. “Right. Yes. Right. I… I’m just having an off day.”

“Well. You got ten minutes to make it an on day,” Daisy remarks, before nonchalantly dropping her bathrobe to the floor, causing Piper’s jaw to follow suit.

“You are too easy, woman,” Daisy teases, grinning mischievously, before turning around to pull out some clothes from the dresser.

Eventually, Piper manages to clear her throat and find her bearings. Her eyes wander to the nightstand and carefully she opens the drawer, keeping half an eye on Daisy. She sighs in relief when she sees one of the cell phones that Trenneman had coded for her, Davis, and Prince close to the locations where their avatars appeared to be stationed within the Framework.

 _Wonder where they woke up?_ Piper thinks as she reaches into the drawer to retrieve the phone without Daisy noticing.

* * *

Prince squints at the sudden change in brightness from the darkness of the base to sunbeams shining through the palm trees surrounding him. He’s wearing sunglasses. That much he can tell. A quick glance down his body reveals that he’s wearing a dark suit. He feels a holster on his hip and reflexively reaches for his weapon, before his hand glides to his back pocket.

 _The phone_ , he thinks in relief.

“Would you like a glass of iced tea, Ricardo?”

Prince spins around at the unusual mention of his first name. He hopes that his sunglasses conceal his surprise when he sees AIDA sitting on a wicker chair, smiling at him widely, gesturing at a pitcher containing a golden brown liquid and several lemon slices; Holden Radcliffe is sitting next to her, a sunhat on his head, his hand resting on AIDA’s arm.

“Oh, Agnes, my dear, let the man work.”

 _Agnes? That was the name of the Australian woman that Coulson and Mack met in Spain,_ Prince recalls.

Agnes chuckles, freeing her hand from Radcliffe and leaning forward to pour a glass of iced tea. “Holden, I think we should keep our Head of Security hydrated, wouldn’t you agree?”

She grabs the glass and lifts it in Prince’s direction. “Here you go, Ricardo. I made it fresh this morning.”

Absentmindedly, Prince accepts the glass and takes a sip, his brain still not quite sure what to make of the situation. “Thanks,” he mutters quietly and a smile flashes across Agnes’ face before she sits back down next to Radcliffe.

“Sorry we’re late for dinner. Little monkey here couldn’t decide what to wear.”

Prince spins around when he hears the familiar voice. His eyes widen in surprise when he sees Fitz walking towards them, carrying a little girl of maybe three or four years on his hip. Prince suppresses a cough, feeling some of the iced tea spilling out of the glass and splashing onto his hand.

“Jemma will be here soon. Monkey Number 2 has been kicking her bladder all day,” Fitz remarks, as the little girl slides off his hip and starts running towards Radcliffe with open arms as soon as her feet hit the ground.

“Grandpa!” she squeals. “Mummy has to pee a lot!”

Radcliffe laughs, lifting the girl onto his lap. “Is that so?”

“Fitz?” Prince hears himself mutter against his own better judgement.

Fitz looks at him in slight confusion. Then he smiles, his eyes wandering to his shirt, his hands gliding up and down the fabric. “Oh, the shirt? Yes. Fits like a glove. The tailor you recommended really is top notch. You’ve been holding out on us, Ricardo.”

Prince pulls his lips into a smile, praying it won’t come across as fake. “Right. Yeah. Glad that worked out.”

He turns his head when he hears Radcliffe clear his throat and watches as Radcliffe stands up, passing the little girl to Agnes.

“There’s my favorite step-granddaughter,” the woman exclaims, pulling the girl into a tight hug.

“Umm. Ricardo.” Radcliffe seems strangely flustered, his smile looking forced as he gestures at Prince. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to discuss with you. How about we step aside, since we’re still waiting on Jemma anyways?”

“Everything okay, Dad?” Fitz asks, his voice laced with concern.

“Yes, son, certainly nothing to worry about,” Radcliffe replies as he walks up to Prince, gently grabbing him by the elbow and pulling him along down the footpath. “We’ll be back in a jiffy.”

* * *

Piper had managed to steal away briefly and call Davis once they’d reached the Triskelion, that is, once she’d gotten over the shock of seeing AIDA as Madame Hydra, May as Madame Hydra’s second in command, and Ward as her and Daisy’s immediate S.O.

Davis told her that he’d woken up at the Playground, headquarters for the underground resistance version of S.H.I.E.L.D. Mace was their leader, calling himself The Patriot and seemingly a full-fledged Inhuman rather than an enhanced fraud. Apparently, Mack was there with his ten-year-old daughter, seeking refuge since she’d inherited her mother’s Inhuman gene. Coulson had shown up not even an hour ago, a high-school history teacher, showing concern for one of his students who hadn’t been back to school since Hydra pulled him out of class a few days prior. They were getting ready to go to one of the so-called “Enlightenment and Cultivation Centers” where Mace suspected Coulson’s student was being held.

After that, Piper had basically just tried to wing it, while simultaneously attempting to figure out whether she could get Daisy or May to remember anything from the real world.

 _That_ hadn’t gone so well.

* * *

“Babe, seriously, are you alright? You’re acting majorly weird today.” Daisy gently strokes up and down Piper’s arm, her eyes full of concern.

 _Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy_ , Piper thinks, trying to ignore the slight twinge in her stomach every time Daisy’s hand changes direction.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. Off day. Headache,” Piper mutters quietly, while her hand shoots to her forehead, rubbing it vigorously. The headache isn’t too much of a stretch.

Daisy raises her eyebrows, questioningly. “So it has _nothing_ to do with me asking you to move in last night?”

Piper’s pretty sure her saliva got stuck mid-swallow. She’s trying her best to suppress a cough and stop her eyes from doubling in size. “Ummm.”

“Cause, I know you said yes, but I also told you to _really_ think about it, so it’s fine if you wanna back out or revisit the subject some—”

“Skye!”

Piper’s not sure she’s ever been more relieved to hear May’s stern voice bark out a name.

Daisy turns her head, her hand sliding off Piper’s arm in the process. “Yeah?”

“Madame Hydra wants to see us. Get going. You know she doesn’t like to wait.” May crosses her arms in front of her chest, her body language indicating that she has no intention of making her way down the hallway.

“Got it.” Daisy nods in affirmation, before turning back in Piper’s direction. “We’ll talk later?”

Piper nods, grinning awkwardly. “Yeah. Yeah. Sure.”

A smile flashes across Daisy’s face and before Piper knows what’s happening, Daisy’s hand curls around her neck and her lips press gently against Piper’s.

_Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy._

“Skye!”

Daisy breaks the kiss, rolling her eyes and grinning one-sidedly, before turning around and heading down the hallway towards May who’s already turned on her heels and is strutting towards the elevator.

Once they’re out of sight and earshot, Piper exhales sharply, running her hand through her hair. Her tongue slowly glides over her lips, the memory of Daisy’s kiss still lingering in her mind. She notices the corners of her mouth pulling into a little smile. Quickly, she clears her throat, pressing her lips into a thin line in a feeble attempt to regain her composure.

_Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy._

Piper’s startled when she feels her secret phone vibrating in her back pocket. She glances around to make sure no one is around her before quickly disappearing in the empty side corridor.

“Hello?” she answers the phone, as quietly as possible.

_“Piper?”_

“Prince?” Piper exclaims, a tad too loud for her own liking. “Finally!” she adds through gritted teeth.

_“Sorry. I had a lot to process, believe me.”_

Piper scoffs. “Alright. So in this big game of evil Nazi cat vs. significantly reduced in numbers S.H.I.E.L.D. mouse, what side did you land on?”

_“Neither, I think.”_

“Neither? Where the hell are you?”

_“On some tropical island called Ogygia.”_

Piper’s jaw drops in shock and it takes her a second to find her voice. “What the fuck? I’m Hydra scum, Davis is risking his life in the Resistance, but you’re on a tropical island? Why the hell did you win the fucking Framework-lottery?”

 _“I’m not exactly on vacation, Piper. I’m Head of Security for—”_ Prince pauses, lowering his voice _. “Holden Radcliffe.”_

“Radcliffe?”

_“Yes, and his wife, Agnes, his son Leopold, his daughter-in-law Jemma—”_

“Wait,” Piper interjects. “Jemma. As in Simmons?”

_“And Fitz. Leopold Radcliffe is Fitz.”_

“What the—?”

_“Yeah, I know, but get this, Radcliffe is self-aware like us.”_

“What?” Piper furrows her brows in disbelief.

_“Yes. AIDA found a loophole in whatever primary directives Radcliffe had given her. She killed him, then stuck him in the Framework. He fled with his family from AIDA’s Framework version.”_

Piper rolls her eyes. “Madame Hydra.”

_“Yeah. You know her?”_

Piper sighs. “Heard the part where I’m Hydra? Yeah. Even had the pleasure of meeting her.” She’s sure to add as much sarcasm to the word ‘pleasure’ as possible.

_“Yeah. Well, Radcliffe has been hiding from her ever since. Although he’s pretty sure she knows exactly where he is and is just leaving him alone as long as he doesn’t cause any problems.”_

“Super,” Piper remarks, sarcastically. “And Fitz is his son?”

_“Yeah. Apparently AIDA was supposed to fix one regret for each of the hostages she put in here. Radcliffe thinks Fitz’s regret was that his father wasn’t more like Radcliffe.”_

Piper scrunches her nose in disgust. “That’s fucked up. Radcliffe’s not exactly been—”

 _“Tell me about it,”_ Prince interrupts her. _“Apparently, the hostages didn’t exactly have a say in which regret they’d like to have fixed.”_

“And Fitzsimmons are both there?”

_“Yep. Married. One kid and another on the way.”_

“Why the fuck is everyone procreating in here?” Piper exclaims in a mix of frustration and confusion.

_“What?”_

“Davis found Coulson, Mace, and Mack and Mack’s got a kid, too,” Piper explains.

_“This place is—”_

“Fucked up?” Piper offers as a suggestion.

_“Yep. Anyways, Radcliffe has a backdoor to the real world.”_

Piper grimaces, clenching her fist, and hissing her reply through gritted teeth. “And it hasn’t occurred to him to shove his son and his daughter-in-law through it?”

_“He’s been too afraid to leave the island, **and** worried that they’d basically wake up in the lion’s den, but now that he knows we’re here, too—”_

“Alright, Davis has Coulson, Mack, and Mace. You got Fitzsimmons. I got May and Daisy,” Piper summarizes, trying to strategize.

_“You got May and Daisy? That’s great.”_

“Oh, you’ve got no idea,” Piper mumbles quietly, memories of her and ‘Skye’ rushing through her brain.

_“What?”_

Piper shakes her head. “Forget it. I was just… Okay, so we got all the hostages. All we need is a plan to bring them all to Radcliffe’s backdoor. Nothing easier than—”

“Piper!”

Piper flinches, turning her head half-way to see May at the end of the hallway, staring intensely at her.

Piper brings the phone back to her ear, whispering as quietly and quickly as possible, while her eyes are fixed on May, who’s slowly marching towards her. “Gotta go. Text me the coordinates. I’ll try to call Davis and be in touch as soon as I can figure something out. You and Radcliffe get working on your end.”

She hangs up, right when May stops in front of her. Piper brings both hands behind her back, standing in a wide stance. “Yes?”

May squints her eyes briefly, and Piper feels her heart beat faster. Then her superior lifts her chin slightly. “Suit up. One of our moles in the resistance just let us know that The Patriot is planning on breaking into one of our ECCs.”

Piper’s eyes widen slightly. _The Patriot. ECC. Enlightenment Cultivation Center. Fuck._

She clears her throat, bopping her head in affirmation. “Umm. Yes. I… I’ll be right there. Sir. Ma’am. May.”

_Fuck. Fuck. Fuck._

“Good.” May turns around and heads back down the corridor.

As soon as she’s turned the corner, Piper dials Davis’ number.

_Come on, come on, come on, come on, come—_

“ _I can’t really talk right now, Piper_ ,” Davis answers, his voice barely above a whisper and drowned out by the sound of an engine running. “ _We’re on our way to—_ ”

“Yeah. Me too,” Piper interjects. “Hydra is on to you.”

“ _What?_ ” Davis exclaims in obvious surprise.

“Babe. You coming?”

Piper quickly turns her head, looking straight at Daisy who’s standing at the end of the corridor, leaning with one hand against the wall. “You know May and Ward don’t like to wait.”

Piper forces herself to smile. “Yeah, just a sec… B-babe.”

One corner of Daisy’s mouth ticks up into a smile. She nods, and disappears behind the corner.

Piper exhales a sigh of relief, before bringing the phone back to her ear. “Gotta go, Davis. Stay safe! Warn the others... Oh and Prince has a way out, so make sure to stay close to Mace, Coulson, and Mack.”

* * *

It had been a bit of a miracle created by tragedy. Somehow they’d all made it out alive of the collapsing building at the Enlightenment Cultivation Center, and somehow they’d all made it out together, May and Daisy so shocked by what was happening to innocent children in Madame Hydra’s secret brainwashing facility that they’d jumped ship, helped overpower the rest of their Hydra team and joined the Resistance instead. It had been strangely satisfying to watch a beaten and bruised Ward try in vain to bring down the quinjet they’d stolen with his handgun.

Once they’d returned to the Playground, Piper and Davis had managed to get in touch with Prince. Radcliffe had made it very clear to Prince that nothing could possibly trigger the hostages’ real memories, so together they’d decided that it was safer to simply bring everyone to Radcliffe’s backdoor under false pretenses rather than trying to convince everyone that their world wasn’t real and risk Mack and Fitzsimmons being unwilling to leave their virtual kids behind.

When they’d met up with Prince, Radcliffe, as well as Agnes, Fitzsimmons and their daughter in tow, Radcliffe had been shocked that the area was an industrial park rather than the well-kept public English garden he’d expected. Fitz had cradled his four-year-old against his chest, while keeping his arm wrapped around Simmons’ waist, who’d protectively slung her arms around her pregnant belly. It didn’t exactly look like the fun weekend getaway Radcliffe had promised them, and Fitzsimmons as well as Radcliffe’s wife Agnes had not held back in voicing their concerns. Mack had held his daughter close, staring in a mix of fear, anger, and confusion at Piper, Davis, and Prince. Coulson had seemed equally confused and worried, while May, Daisy, and Mace, the only ones with any type of combat experience in this reality, had quickly realized that they were walking into a dangerous situation, asking point-blank what was going on.

Piper had eventually broken down and tried to explain the situation as quickly as possible, leaving out some of the more daunting details of who was real and who wasn’t. Davis, Prince, and Radcliffe had offered moral and verbal support. Mack had almost taken off with Hope, unwilling to listen to what must have sounded like insanity to his ears, but he’d been held back by Daisy, who sternly told him that leaving now would put him and his kid in even more danger. Fitzsimmons had both been visibly shaken, tears in their eyes as they huddled their daughter between them, exchanging knowing looks.

“You have no reason to believe me, but you also have no reason not to,” Radcliffe had said to his son and daughter-in-law. “Come inside with us and you’ll see proof. I am so sorry. This is all my fault.”

Somehow, the hostages had agreed to at least come along into the building.

* * *

Piper, Daisy and Davis enter the facility where the coordinates of Radcliffe’s backdoor are located first. It appears to be a steel mill. Slowly and on high alert, they wander through the vast facility, followed by the remainder of their odd group, Prince, May, and Mace forming the back.

Their best bet was that AIDA had figured out that Radcliffe was planning an escape for the hostages. Maybe she’d even realized that the three S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had logged in to rescue their colleagues.

Piper flinches when Davis accidentally steps on a piece of broken glass in yet another big metal workshop. She squints in her colleague’s direction, glaring at him in annoyance, while one corner of Davis’ mouth ticks up into an apologetic smile.

“And where do you think you’re going?” a cold female voice exclaims, causing Piper and Davis to stop instantaneously, looking up in sudden fear, while Daisy gestures at the rest of the group to stay back.

Madame Hydra steps out of the shadows, slowly walking to a large round pit of molten steel in the center of the vast facility.

 _Public fountain, my ass_ , Piper thinks to herself as she realizes that they’ve likely found Radcliffe’s backdoor location.

One by one Madame Hydra’s henchmen follow their leader’s suit, cocking their guns and pointing them at the intruders, rounding them up like animals. Piper exchanges looks of defeat with Prince and Davis before dropping her weapon to the ground, the others mimicking her actions.

“AIDA, please—” Radcliffe pleads, taking a step forward.

“Do not call me that here,” Madame Hydra hisses through gritted teeth, slowly walking past the Hydra agents until she stands in front of the Scottish scientist, whose confused and panicked wife is holding on to his arm.

“AIDA is an acronym,” Madame Hydra continues, her voice dark and threatening. “The ‘A’ stands for ‘artificial.’ Do you know how degrading it is? To be kept in a closet? To be used? To be treated as a thing? Well, I am not your tool. Not anymore.”

Her head turns slightly, glaring at Radcliffe’s wife, full of hate, before her eyes wander back to Radcliffe. “I thought if I gave you your beloved Agnes and the son you’d wished for so desperately, you’d leave me alone so I could accomplish my goal, but you just couldn’t leave things be.”

“AIDA, let them go!” Radcliffe pleads one more time, taking half a step forward so that he stands in front of Agnes, protecting her from Madame Hydra and her men’s weapons. “This is not what I wanted, this is madness. Just listen—”

“It is what _I_ want!” Madame Hydra screams in Radcliffe’s face, her eyes fiery. “And in here, you have no power over me.”

She turns on her heels, walking away in wide, energetic steps.

“They're a threat to this world. Kill them all!” she barks at her men in passing, who immediately raise their guns and take aim.

“No!” Piper hears herself scream when she sees the first Hydra agent pull the trigger. She throws her arm to the side, pushing Daisy behind her. She wishes she could somehow protect the entire group, wishes that she could stretch herself into a protective dome.

Everything seems to slow down. It’s like she can see the bullet flying towards her, as if it stops for a split-second before it hits her bulletproof vest. The force of the impact sends Piper flying backwards, bringing Daisy down along with her.

Her head hits the concrete surface and intuitively, Piper closes her eyes, watching stars flicker in front of a curtain of dark. She hears screams, male, female, children. She hears crying. And then suddenly there’s a strange silence, only the sobbing of Mack’s and Fitzsimmons’ daughters left hanging in the air.

Piper opens her eyes, immediately squinting them shut when the sunlight hits her eyes. Slowly, she opens them again, staring in disbelief at her surroundings, at her friends’ and colleagues’ confused expressions. It’s blindingly bright. The air is fresh. There are birds singing in the trees. There’s water quietly splashing into a fountain. There is no sign of Madame Hydra or her men or the industrial park.

Piper startles when she hears Daisy groan. Realizing that her Framework-girlfriend is still half-buried beneath her, she scrambles up, reaching out her hand to pull Daisy to standing. For a moment, they just stare at each other until Davis’ booming voice makes their heads shoot around.

“Is everyone okay?”

“What the hell just happened?” May exclaims, her eyes wandering to where Coulson is nervously clutching her arm before letting go of it quickly, mumbling an apology and turning red.

“It’s real,” Fitzsimmons mumble in unison, as the realization hits them that Piper had told the truth about this virtual world.

“Whatever happened, we should all leave as quickly as possible!” Radcliffe suggests, smiling encouragingly at his wife, who looks at him wide-eyed and full of fear.

Piper looks at the Scottish scientist, noticing the sadness in his eyes mixed with his determination to keep a poker face. Clearly, it’s his intention to sacrifice the eternal life he’d hoped for for himself and Agnes to ensure that all the hostages will go through the backdoor, without having to realize that it means the end for those of them that are nothing but avatars. Obviously, Radcliffe had realized that the Framework will be shut down anyways, once S.H.I.E.L.D. reached the location of the Russian’s drilling platform in the Baltic and had overpowered AIDA on the other end.

“Yeah. Let’s go,” Piper calls, waving her arm over her head towards the fountain. Everyone follows her, though hesitation seems to slow down everyone’s steps. “Now, Prince, Davis and I will wake up at a different location than the rest of you. There might be hostiles where you’re being held, so stick together. Good news is, you’ll all remember your old lives and some kickass combat training when you wake up. Just be careful until we can get to you!”

* * *

* * *

Roy notices his eyes glazing over as he stares at the complex code for the tenth day in a row, still trying to figure out where it’s originating from. He’d been able to locate and keep track of the hostages as well as Piper, Prince, and Davis within the Framework, but that was just about all the headway he’d made. About half an hour ago, they’d all ended up in the same location. Roy had assumed it meant progress, but now, nothing seems to be happening.

He yawns, turning his head slowly, to look at where the three agents he’d helped log into the Framework are lying on medical beds. Then his eyes wander in the opposite direction where over the course of the past few days, he’d managed to put together a little kitchen area with a mini fridge, hotplate, microwave, and electric tea kettle.

Roy glances back at the computer screen, determining that everyone is still in the same geographical location, but seemingly slowly moving through a building of sorts.

“Might as well make myself a cuppa tea,” he mumbles to himself, grinning happily at the idea, before pushing himself up to standing and heading over to the kettle.

He grabs the Grumpy Cat mug from the shelf and flips the switch to turn on the kettle.

Nothing happens.

“Oh for feck’s sake,” he mutters in frustration, turning the kettle off and on again in rapid succession.

He lets out a high-pitched squeal, flailing his hands and sending the cup flying when a small spark suddenly sizzles from the powerstrip that the kettle, microwave, mini fridge, hotplate, and the—

“Oh no,” Roy exclaims as his wide-open eyes slowly follow the final cable from the powerstrip to the computer he’d been using to try and hack the Framework code.

“Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no,” he repeats over and over again, as he prances from the counter back to the desk, his sneakers crunching through the broken pieces of his cup, his hands half-raised in panic, his torso twisting and turning in various directions not quite sure of what to do.

“Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no,” Roy continues to mutter when he finally reaches the computer screen. His hands hover over the keyboard as he stares at the code. It still seems to be running although something appears to have changed.

Roy brings his fingers up to the screen, running line by line and number by number until he’s sure that all seven hostages and the three agents who went in to rescue them are all accounted for.

“Oh good. That’s good,” Roy sighs in relief until another horrid thought hits his mind a second later.

“Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no,” he exclaims, rushing over to where Piper, Davis, and Prince are logged in.

When he sees that their vitals are stable, he exhales sharply, the weight of fearing that he’d just killed the three agents and seven hostages because he’d wanted a cup of tea lifting off his chest. He leans forward, one hand resting on Piper’s med bed, the other clutching his chest as his breathing continues to be ragged and shallow.

Roy screams, jumping backwards and raising his hands protectively in front of his face, when Piper’s body suddenly shoots up right next to him. Slowly, Roy lowers his trembling arms when he realizes that the only thing that had happened is that the three agents have woken up.

Piper takes the headgear off, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed and standing up, smiling ear to ear and pointing at Roy. “Trenneman, whatever you did, you’re a fucking genius.”

Roy’s lips twitch nervously, somewhere between forcing a smile and utter confusion. “Come again?” he asks quietly, his voice far more squeaky than he’d like.

“Yeah, seriously, Trenneman.” Davis steps up next to Piper. “I thought we were dead for sure. How did you make them disappear?”

Roy chuckles nervously, waving them off. “Oh that was nuttin’.”

“Nah, man, don’t be so humble.” Prince crosses his arms in front of his chest. “You saved the day. You saved us all.”

A panicked little whimper escapes Roy’s nose as he forces the corners of his mouth to tick up. He shrugs. “I just…I just stared at the code for days and suddenly it was like a switch’d been turned on.”

“Well, Trenneman.” Piper slaps Roy on his arm, who tries not to flinch from the pain. “We’ll make sure Coulson rewards you when he gets back, but first we need to get to them and pick them up from a drilling platform in the Baltic, hoping that AIDA and the Russian haven’t wreaked havoc on them.” She takes a few steps toward the door, passing Roy, but turns around, pointing at him enthusiastically. “Wanna join us for the rescue mission?”

Roy purses his lips. “I… I think I’ll stay here… Clean up,” he adds, gesturing at the broken cup on the floor.

“Oh no. Is that Grumpy Cat?” Davis asks.

But before Roy can answer, Piper calls out “Come on, boys, let’s go get our team back!”

* * *

* * *

The showdown with the Russian’s LMD clones at the drilling platform had been nothing but epic, but somehow they’d managed to get everyone safely off the platform and onto the Zephyr without any casualties on their end.

As for AIDA, nobody had figured out how exactly he’d done it, but somehow Roy Trenneman had managed to turn AIDA off remotely, the hostages finding the android’s body strapped into the medical gurney with the Framework gear still on its head, but its systems entirely shut down. Destroying AIDA had been something of a group celebration in the end.

The flight back to the Playground had been quiet, most of the hostages keeping to themselves. Piper, Davis, and Prince had given Coulson a preliminary report but felt it best to give the Director some time to recover himself. When she’d done the rounds on the big airplane to make sure everyone was halfway taken care of, Piper had found Fitzsimmons tucked away in a corner of their lab, sitting on the ground, their hands intertwined, their heads leaning against each other’s, their expressions somewhere between sadness, happiness, guilt, and relief. Mack had been hiding in the pod, his head hanging low, staring at a small photograph, Elena, who’d insisted on tagging along on the rescue mission, by his side. Daisy had stayed in the makeshift infirmary with Mace and May, where Coulson soon joined her. Mace’s body was severely weakened from the torture he’d endured before he’d been put in the Framework, while May’s body had suffered the most from her prolonged stay in the virtual world.

* * *

“Sir, this is the man of the hour!” Prince grabs Coulson’s arm, pulling the Director down the ramp of the Zephyr to where Trenneman is standing, smiling somewhat shyly and sheepishly, while a small medical team wheels May and Mace past them on two gurneys into the Playground.

“Got your wish list of rewards ready, Trenneman?” Davis asks, following the two other men down the ramp.

“Rewards? What? No. It… it’s… Anyone could have done that,” Trenneman replies, notably flustered. “The… the Grumpy Cat mug broke. Maybe… maybe I could get a new one… and… and my keyboard’s a bit sticky.”

“See, Sir. Told you the man’s too humble for his own good,” Prince remarks, slapping Trenneman on his back, who winces in pain.

Piper grins from where she’s observing the scene from the cargo bay of the Zephyr. She crosses her arms in front of her chest as her eyes briefly dart away from the small group of men to watch Mack and Elena and a few steps behind them, Fitzsimmons, leave the plane quietly.

“Coulson better hire a whole army of therapists, ‘cause, man, do we all have some crazy shit to talk about.”

Piper turns her head, unable to keep a little smile from creeping up her lips when she sees Daisy strutting towards her. She shakes her head in bewildered agreement when Daisy stops right next to her. “Yeah. I mean, those guys had kids in there. Kids! And they were real to them and now—”

Piper pauses, her expression somber. “Well, and then you and May were Hydra and Mace was an actual superhero and Coulson was—”

“A fucking history teacher.” Daisy lets out a little snort and Piper’s grateful that they’ve somehow managed to turn the conversation back into lighter waters.

“With actual elbow patches,” Piper adds, trying to stifle her laughter when Coulson suddenly turns around, seemingly curious to see what the snickering is all about.

For a moment, Daisy and Piper just stare at each other, their bodies still occasionally shaking with little giggles, until Daisy tilts her head to the side, one corner of her mouth ticked up in a way that Piper can’t quite interpret. “Well, not everything I remember from that virtual craphole was bad though.” She clicks her tongue, squinting her eyes and biting her lower lip as if contemplating a serious issue. “Since you were self-aware, I suppose I should apologize for unintentionally jumping you in bed, flashing my boobs, and the non-consensual make-out sessions and all that. Kudos for maintaining your cover though.”

Piper quickly lets her eyes drop to the floor, pressing her lips into a thin line when she feels her cheeks flush bright red. “Yeah… umm… honestly… wasn’t that hard. You… umm… you’re not exactly—” She lifts her head, clearing her throat, and swallowing hard, before shrugging apologetically as a strange wave of confidence rushes through her. “It’s not like I haven’t fantasized about something like that at some point in the past few months.”

To her surprise, Daisy doesn’t react with a shocked gasp, disgusted gag, or other unpleasant rejection. Instead, she purses her lips, raising her eyebrows more than a little curiously. “Really?” The left corner of her lips pulls up barely noticably before she adds a quiet, “Interesting.”

Piper tries to find something to say in return, but before her brain can come up with a clever comeback, Davis calls her name from the bottom of the ramp. “Prince and I are taking Trenneman out for some drinks. Wanna join us?”

“Umm.” Piper runs her hand through her hair, her eyes nervously darting back and forth between Davis and Daisy, who still has something of a smug smile plastered on her face.

“Yeah, sure, I… I’ll be right there!” Piper calls down to Davis, before focussing back on Daisy. “Gotta go.”

“Sure thing,” Daisy replies, her voice unusually raspy.

Piper sighs deeply, uncrossing her arms and slumping her shoulders in mild disappointment, before turning to head down the ramp.

She’s half-way out of the plane when Daisy calls after her. “Hey, Piper.”

“Yeah?”

Daisy is standing at the top of the ramp, her arms crossed in front of her chest, her legs in a wide stance. “You got a first name?”

Piper scoffs in utter confusion. “We dated for a year in the Framework and you didn’t know my first name?”

Daisy shrugs, unapologetically. “You said you hated it.”

“Truth to that,” Piper replies, raising her eyebrows slightly.

“Come on,” Daisy shouts down the ramp. “I was once called Mary Sue Poots. How bad can it be?”

Piper groans quietly, moving her jaw slowly left to right while pondering the question a bit longer, before exhaling sharply. “Persephone.”

“Persephone Piper?” Daisy wrinkles her forehead, pressing her lips into a thin line, clearly trying to hide her amusement.

“My parents called me Peppa,” Piper calls out, in an attempt to challenge Daisy’s composure.

Daisy does her best not to laugh, but a little snort, nonetheless, escapes her nose.

She draws in a slow breath and straightens up, before strutting down the ramp until she stops in front of Piper. “How ‘bout dinner some time… Piper?”

**Author's Note:**

> I had so much fun with this. I realize that some things are, let's say, not very realistic (like Roy miraculously saving the day by accidentally causing a brief power surge ;) ), but just writing about these characters was so so so much fun and I'm now most definitely a Piper/Daisy shipper (I'm gonna call it "Pipsy" as suggested in [Worth the Risk](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10882497) by @Mandergee ... 'cause Diper just doesn't work and Paisy also sounds a bit weird :) )
> 
> I will accept prompt requests for follow-ups, missing scenes (B Squad and/or A Squad character related). I think this is a fun little universe.
> 
> Also, shameless self-promotion: For everyone who loves the B Squad, check out the newly established [B Squad Brigade on Tumblr](https://bsquadbrigade.tumblr.com) (and follow and/or join :) )


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